The Federal Reserve
pledged for the first time to keep its benchmark
interest rate at a record low at least through
mid-2013 in a bid to revive the flagging recovery
after a worldwide stock rout.

The Federal Open
Market Committee discussed a range of policy
tools to bolster the economy and said it is
“prepared to employ these tools as appropriate,”
it said in a statement today in Washington.
Three members of the FOMC dissented, preferring
to maintain the pledge to keep rates low for an
“extended period.”

As riots
continue to spread across Britain,
Israelis living in London describe the
fear on the streets: Omer, who works for a
private investment fund and lives in the
Notting Hill neighborhood, told Ynet about
the violence that has reached his
doorstep.

"A number of
youth gangs walked around the
neighborhood, shattering display windows
and looting the stores," he said, adding
that there is "a sense of violence in the
air, especially when one comes near these
gang members.

Yochai Hakak, a sociology
lecturer who has been living in central
London for the past three years,
described the heightened deployment of
police forces on the streets of the
capital.

"People are
getting increasingly concerned,
because it has evolved from breaking
into businesses to breaking into
private homes. The number of
burglaries has increased dramatically
overnight," he noted.

According
to Hakak, the riots were sparked by
budget cutbacks in social services
and the higher education
establishment, which have been
implemented since Prime Minister
David Cameron and his conservative
party took office.

"Budgets
allocated to universities were cut
back by 80% and tuition increased
threefold," he said, adding that
"welfare pensions were also trimmed
down, while programs encouraging
people to go out seeking jobs were
put in place – sort of like the
English version of the Wisconsin
plan.